Reverdes sets new record
Pawtucket native does 16,064 squats in 24-hour period
JOHNSTON – Kim Reverdes has known her husband Joe for nearly 40 years – and been married to him for 21 – so nothing he does or tries comes as much of a surprise.
When the 50-year-old Pawtucket native attempted to break a world record for the number of squats achieved in a 24-hour span, and apparently succeeded with an astonishing total of 16,064, she merely shrugged.
“Is he nuts? Yes. Let’s put it this way: He’s definitely wired differently than most of us,” she chuckled while relaxing in the front foyer of A&D, a former auto repair garage-turned-fitness center by the couple’s daughter and son-in-law, Alysha and Donnell Freeman, about 13 months ago.
“He’s so driven; that part about him has never changed. His motto has always been, ‘If another man can do it, so can I.’ I’m not that way; I’m just a nurturer, but I wish I had an ounce of that enthusiasm and drive.’’
She hesitated, then added, “I can definitely believe he did it. The minute he told me he was going to attempt it, I knew. He’s so driven. He thinks if it’s already been done, it’s not impossible.”
To be fair, Reverdes didn’t break the mark previously held by Andre Turan, but shattered it, and it took him a scant 21 hours and 31 minutes to do so. The only issue: It hasn’t been deemed official yet by the organization RecordSetters that recognized Turan’s total of 15,939; the latter earned that distinction during the Memorial Day Street Festival in Liberty, N.Y. on May 28-29, 2011.
Reverdes, however, expects the tape he sent of the entire event to be accepted by those officials sometime soon.
“The Guinness Book of World Records doesn’t recognize (one) in squats in a 24-hour period, but I found out RecordSetters did, so I went after it,” grinned Joe, who trains at his daughter’s club (and is a physical trainer) when he’s not working as an auto detailer at a Warwick collision center. “I’m also still fighting (Mixed Martial Arts), and one of my next goals is to fight on the same card as my son (Aaron, 21) sometime the beginning of next year.
“I didn’t have my first MMA bout until I was 42, and people thought I was crazy for trying it, but I always trained and worked hard in the gym, so I wanted to try,” he continued. “People think that, at my age – anyone over 45-50 – is overthe-hill, should be spending time in a recliner or rocking chair all day.
“I just don’t think that way, never have. I’m always striving to do something I haven’t done before.”
Now the pivotal question: How the heck did he come up with the idea of marathon squats?
“What happened was, my son and I were listening to a podcast by Joe Rogan, who’s a UFC commentator and former fighter, about a month ago, and he had a guest on it named Dave Goggins,” the elder Reverde, a father of four and grandpa to another quartet. “Dave had broken all sorts of world records in different events – pull-ups, running 200 miles in a week, that kind of stuff.
“Both guys are motivational speakers, and – as always – I really got into it,” he added. “My wife and I are in the process of moving, so we were at our new house; I turned to Aaron and said, ‘You know, that gives me an idea.’ I never knew this guy Turan even existed, but I decided on squats, clear out of nowhere. I told Aaron, I’m going to try to do eight nonstop hours of squats just to see.
“I knew the motivational speakers were into more difficult exercises, but I chose it myself.”
Not surprisingly, it took him mere minutes to drive to the fitness center, get out of the car, set up his cellphone in the proper position and videoed himself from the side (as is mandatory) live on Facebook.
“There was no one here but me; it was Sunday, Nov. 11, and I started and finished 7,620,” he stated. “I was curious to see if I could do it; I work out all the time, so I figured it would be no big deal.”
(He explained later he was never more wrong).
“Later that day,” he continued, “Aaron called me after he saw it on Facebook and said he had done some research – that some guy named Andre from New York had done almost 16,000 in a 24-hour span. When he told me that, it set the wheels in motion in my head.”
When asked how sore he was after the 7,000-plus workout, he confessed, “Yeah, I was pretty sore; my back, my hamstrings, calves, abs, everywhere. I had never done that before, but I wasn’t going to change my mind. I wanted that record.”
According to Reverdes, he learned a couple of lessons from the first go-around – No. 1, don’t try anything more until positive of greater endurance; and No. 2, take nutritional supplements to help with recovery.
Neither was foreign to him, so he set out for his coveted goal.
With plenty of help from Alysha and Donnell, he spent two weeks training, then began his attempt before dozens of relatives and friends at 9:10 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving. Naturally, his wife was sitting there counting on her cellphone, courtesy of an app.
“The camera had to be placed to my side, so (officials) could tell I was doing proper full squats; arms out, horizontal to the ground, squats down where I should be and no higher,” he noted. “I had to be very technical but quick at the same time.
“It was about every two hours where I’d take, like, a 10-minute break; I knew I had to rehydrate, take my supplements, then get right back to work,” he added. “I know I was over 8,000 at the eight-hour mark.
“How’d I get through it? My cheering section – my daughters and son and grandchildren, and that collage of pictures,” Reverdes offered. “The last hour or so, I really picked up the pace because I was so motivated. Everyone was cheering, plus my son was playing all the right music.
“After nearly 22 hours, yes, I was so sore; in fact, I couldn’t move for a few hours,” he added with a laugh. “I was sort of numb, but because I took all of my recovery supplements (Alysha is also a distributor for Advocare), I woke up the next day OK. I was actually in better shape than I was after the eight-hour thing.”
When it was over, Alysha was so touched, she composed this to that support staff: “We had 70 people walk through the doors of A & D from 9 a.m. when he started to 6:41 this morning. Folks stayed all night with us. Never-ending texts. I mean, it’s truly because of you guys that he didn’t give up! He set the goal, he shared it with the world. He knew there were people there believing in him, and the last thing he was going to do was give up.
“The pain, the agony, the muscle cramps, the tears shed … he refused to quit because we had you!! Please don’t take (this) lightly! This is coming from the bottom of my heart. I am so amazed by the support system but … soooo grateful for it!
“Daddy, you are my hero, a legend.”
Reverdes claimed he too is thankful for all of the people who helped achieve his goal.
“But I’m not done yet,” he said. “I did the 24-hour squat thing, but I’ve already got my eyes set on two more goals in the near future.”
He wouldn’t say what those are, but did say they’re related to the same type of activity, but with different lengths of time.
“I want more world records,” he stated. “Stay tuned.”